Monday, January 3, 2011

The Truth is Trumped. Again.

It started off as the sort of reference call I love. The caller wanted to know what the entry requirements were for Mexico. I first went to the State Dept. website and read what they had to say (unless you’re going to Ciudad Juarez or some other border city, you need a passport and you need a passport to get back into the US, so get a durn passport). Then I went over to the Mexican government website that was linked on that page and read a similar passage to him, this written by representatives of the very nation he wished to visit. I thought I was done, but the patron objected. He had something he had printed out at some point that said you only needed your driver’s license and one other piece of ID. I asked him when he’d printed it out, since the State Dept thing was effective beginning in March of 2010. He didn’t know, but thought it was a more than a year. I told him that he probably had the old stuff and that things had changed. He objected again, referring to a printout that I could hear rattling in the background. I asked him where he had gotten his printout. Again, he could not remember. We started a circular conversation that went something like:Me. Both the State Department and the Mexican Embassy say you need a passport.Him. Says here I only need a driver’s license. Me. Both the State Department and the Mexican Embassy say you need a passport.Him. Says here I only need a driver’s license. Me. Both the State Department and the Mexican Embassy say you need a passport.Him. Says here I only need a driver’s license. I finally offered him the number of the nearest Mexican Consulate. He started to write it down, but stopped and tried to begin our little dialog. “But it says here...” And who can blame him? It was easily the most profound exchange since Plato and Eryximachus threw down in the Symposium. I had to bring it to an end, though. “Here,” I said brightly, “I’ll transfer you to the Consul’s office and you can ask them yourself!” It was a weird interaction--each time I read the relevant info, he just got more convinced that the outdated document of uncertain provenance was the truth. Here’s what a dork I am: it reminds me of a study conducted by a political scientist named Brendan Nyhan who found out about something he named “The Backfire Effect” where a correction to a misapprehension can actually increase the person’s belief in their misunderstanding.

2 comments:

Ah, the circular conversation -- what would a reference transaction be like without them?

I usually feel like the person is so out of their mind to have someone agree with them it's as if they're saying, "Admit I'm right! Admit I'm right!" If he already had his answer printed out on his precious paper, why bother consulting you?